Vonavin
Vonavin is a Player Character currently taking part in the World of Aria campaign run by DM Hunter Mitchell. The campaign is hosted at Comics and Gaming in Gainesville, VA on Tuesday nights at 7:00 PM. 'Story' "If you must know, I drink to forget about the hole in the sky." The heavy silence after that strangely matter-of-fact statement is only broken by the long pull Vonavin takes on his wine bottle. "When I was a baby, and my mother would lull me into my trance, they always found it strange that i would look to the same spot in the sky, indoors or out. Even as I grew older, I was always aware of the spot, though I could never see anything there, and I could never explain it. After years, I just wrote it off as some sort of strange sense of direction. "When I grew up, I took my gifts to Paltorathine, where I was accepted into the Order of the Azure Star. I trained there for a few years under Master Olis Sunstar... I practiced the forms, read the books, just spent my time being a good student and soldier. "Some friends and I went out to a roadside inn we had heard stories about when we had leave for a few days to... unwind as young men might. The kind of slaughter we found..." The pause allows time for another drink... "It was the kind of horror you read about in stories, when war and death settle into the hearts and minds of soldiers. A band of gnolls was attacking the inn and, well, to say they were killing everyone would be too simple, and too kind. But as horrified as we were, we were far more overconfident in our own abilities. "We charged ahead, trying to be heroes. We caught them by surprise, and several of the gnolls fled with whatever they could carry from their raid, thinking perhaps they were facing a more numerous foe. Their chieftain stayed behind to lead a few of his savages in a counterattack. The fight was vicious, but we were gaining the upper hand, until the chieftain felled two of my brethren with his greataxe. "I have no idea what I yelled at him, I only know that I was never more angry, or more desperate. But whatever curse I spoke, it carried power behind it. I charged the bastard only to have his swing shatter my sword. I let my momentum carry me inside his swing, and the impact knocked his weapon from his hands as well. We struggled on the ground, each of us determined to crush the life out of the other with our bare hands. Each punch I threw seemed to resonate with the same power my cry of anger carried. Suddenly I felt a moment of pure satisfaction, and I realized that my foe was no more. "That night, my trance was haunted by what I had seen and all that had happened. But when my eyes drifted to the spot in the sky, I could... see... a hole, a spot of blackness against the blackness, a spot no one else could see. I could feel a sense of gluttony emanating from it, as if something had fed, but wanted more. "I sought information, and the search led me to practitioners of darker arts. A warlock named Tahlavin Sehnavae told me that I was bound to a pact with a being beyond the stars, a pact that must have been forged before my birth. This entity hungered for sacrifices. "I tried to stick to my studies, but the hunger grew, and became maddening. I took up drinking, a habit that has served me well, to be sure, but soon the drink and the hunger gnawing at the edges of my consciousness took their toll on my studies. I departed the academy, to seek employment as a sell-sword wherever there was the promise of conflict. Ultimately, that led me to Fort Dejmore. "Since those days, I've learned to harness some of the power of that... thing up there. But I know that someday that hunger is going to catch up to me. I only hope to find out what bound me to this pact so that I can get a measure of revenge before it's too late. "So, care to share a drink with me?" 'Campaign Notes' Work in progress